The 2015 NIFA Region VII SAFECON was held at the New Bedford Regional Airport, October 23-26, 2015.

 

2015 NIFA Region VII SAFECON Official Results

 

Pictures Capturing the Landing Events (10/24/15)

 

FINAL Update 10/30/15 7:55pm – Again congratulations to all of the teams and individual contestants. We had a fun, safe and all around excellent SAFECON and as I said during my remarks at the awards banquet, I am very proud of how our region has grown and developed over the past few years. As the largest region in NIFA, Region VII sets the bar for the rest of NIFA and the effective and efficient regional event was a perfect highlight of this. The full results can be seen by visiting the link above. Until next year, fly safe! We’ll see every at KSCH for the 2016 NIFA Region VII SAFECON, date TBD!

 

Update 10/26/15 11:00pm – Congratulations to all of the participants from this year’s Region VII SAFECON. The results are in and we’re very excited to have three great teams representing us at the upcoming national SAFECON in May 2016. Following are some limited results:

-Team Sportsmanship (sponsored by ReviewBeforeFlight.com): Dowling College

-Team Safety Award: Schenectady County Community College

-Top Pilot: Kirk Bittner, RPI

-Overall Rankings:

1. Farmingdale State College

2. RPI

3. Dowling College

4. Bridgewater State University

5. Delaware State University

6. United States Military Academy, West Point

7. Schenectady Country Community College

8. United States Coast Guard Academy

 

Update 10/25/15 11:55pm – The 7:00 briefing is rapidly approaching! We’re going to aim to get 2 heats of the Navigation event completed tomorrow. Check out these amazing pictures from Scott Patten, if you liked the ones from earlier this morning, you’ll really like THESE.

 

Update 10/25/15 8:30pm – Remember, tomorrow we have a show time & briefing at 7:00am! Our plan is to get one heat of the Navigation event completed tomorrow morning. Great work, again, today to all of the teams, we got a great deal accomplished today. The Preflight, Ground Trainer, Computer Accuracy and Message Drop events are all in the books. We’re still in the judges room, scoring away to get all of the points tallied… Dinner has been ordered and we expect a long evening, but that’s okay!

 

SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER SCHEDULE: Sunday Schedule. We will aim to complete the safety interviews today and tomorrow and we’ll do one heat of the Navigation Event tomorrow morning. Update coming during lunch!

 

Update 10/25/15 11:55am – Check out these AMAZING pictures from Scott Patten, a regular volunteer with us in Region VII. He joined us yesterday to help capture some of the action…

 

CURRENT SCHEDULE: R7_ADMIN_2015 Schedule E 10-19-15

 

Update 10/24/15 11:43pm – Yes, us judges really are up this late working behind the scenes! We’ll see everyone tomorrow for a briefing at 8am in the Sandpiper hangar. Teams, please remember, do not stage your aircraft before the briefing, you should leave them tied town on the South City Ramp. Also, please be prepared for any of the remaining events (hint: we have a schedule update for you!)… Again, great work to everyone. The judges all did a great job, the competitors all did an awesome job and the controllers were other-worldly, helping us get everything accomplished. It was busy day at EWB on Saturday with more than 600 aircraft operations! Here are a couple of pictures from the landing events today, the high resolution ones are coming soon!

 

Update 10/23/15 6:50pm – Landing cards and completed heat sheets (for your team) are due to the judges ASAP. Today we got off to a great start! The SCAN exam and the Aircraft Recognition exam are in the books as well as the simulator practice. The pattern for the ground trainer will be handed out tomorrow. Here are a couple of pictures form today:

 

Update 10/21/15 – We’re closing in on the start of the event and teams have started arriving at EWB. The “landing line” and associated “box” has been put down on Runway 32, so if the winds are favoring 32, give it a shot! I tested it out myself earlier and “striped” it, don’t worry I have video evidence!

 

Update 10/19/15 – Bridgewater State University has provided an update on the Award’s Banquet. The event will be held at White’s of Westport, located at 66 State Road, Westport, MA 02790. The event will be a formal affair, so please plan and dress accordingly. The banquet will begin at 5pm and end by 7pm, with food service starting around 515pm.

 

Update 10/11/15 – Today team advisors received the General Arrival/Safety Briefing (GASB) for the upcoming SAFECON. The information included in this email and attachments should be considered “Need to Know” for all participants in the upcoming event, the items are each available below as well. It is recommended you begin with reading, “R7_ADMIN_2015 General Arrival Safety Briefing,” as it will point to the other documents at the proper time and provide necessary context for each supporting document.

R7_ADMIN_2015 General Arrival Safety Briefing

R7_ADMIN_2015 Schedule D 10-9-15 – This is an UPDATED schedule!

R7_SAFE_Safety Award Assessment Rev. 3 100915

R7_ADMIN_2015 RBF Team Sportsmanship Award

R7_ADMIN_Region VII SAFECON Competitor Certification – Rev. 1 – 100915

R7_ADMIN_2015 Diagrams

R7_ADMIN_2015 Heat Sheets v4 101015

R7_ADMIN_2015 Comm Procedures v1 100915

R7_PREFLT_Aircraft Preflight Event Scoring Form (R7) – Rev. 1 – 092713

 

Update 9/24/15 – The tentative schedule for the upcoming NIFA Region VII SAFECON can be found HERE. Please keep in mind, this is tentative and changes may occur. Regardless though, the General Contestant Briefing will occur at NOON on Friday, October 23rd (in the Sandpiper Air hangar) and the banquet will be held at 5pm on Monday, October 26th (location TBD).

 

Update 9/17/15 – Fans / Supporters / Spectators are welcome at the 2015 Region VII SAFECON! While airports are secured spaces, New Bedford Regional Airport offers a very unique observation deck. The observation deck is located at the main terminal, the deck is at the elevation of the second floor and can be accessed by a staircase outside of the terminal to the right of the front glass doors of the terminal. From the deck, visitors have a clear view of all four runways! There are some benches and chairs, but to be sure you have a seat, we recommend bringing a chair of your own! Parking will be in the main parking lot (no charge), across Airport Road from the terminal building. For more information on the observation deck, check out the New Bedford Regional Airport website HERE.

 

Update 9/16/15 – Bridgewater State University has provided a great deal of information for teams (following). If you have questions, please feel free to contact Lisa Shaw in the Aviation Office at BSU via phone (508-531-1779) or email (L1SHAW@BRIDGEW.EDU).

 

PAYMENT INFORMATION:

All Coaches/Contestants/Advisors cost will be $75.00 per person. Please go to our link below for payment (most major credit cards accepted):

https://secure.touchnet.com/C20026_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=35&SINGLESTORE=true

 

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Sandpiper has offer the use of their large hangar for our event. So many of the events will be taking place there this year. Their address is: Sandpiper, 1513 Airport Rd, New Bedford, MA 02746

Also, a reminder that Matt Elia’s website: https://reviewbeforeflight.com/region-vii-2015-ewb (RIGHT HERE!) will be posting some NIFA Region 7 information and pictures as the event progresses. You may want to keep an eye on that as well.

HOTEL INFO:

Fairfield Inn & Suites New Bedford

185 McArthur Drive New Bedford, MA 02740 – (774) 634-2000

Group name under: NIFA/SAFECON – October 23 – 26, 2016

$129.00/night plus taxes (rate includes breakfast buffet and Wi-Fi). Guests are required to call in and reserve rooms on their own and provide credit card details. The rooms will be released on October 1, 2015 (21 day prior to the event) and after that date they cannot be guaranteed.

Hampton Inn

1 Hampton Way, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, 02719 – (508) 990-8500

Please see the information below from the Hampton Inn New Bedford/Fairhaven.  I was able to secure a block of (15) rooms at a nightly rate of $103.00 plus tax.  You may provide the link below to your guests if they prefer to book online or they can call and mention the discount code. Thank you for choosing the Hampton Inn New Bedford/Fairhaven to provide overnight accommodations for your attendees with the NIFA/SAFECON conference. Hampton has agreed to hold a block of rooms at $103.00 +tax for a standard room with 2 double beds or 1 king bed. These rooms will be held until October 1, 2015. Guests may reserve by calling the hotel directly and referring to the NIFA/SAFECON block, online at www.newbedfordfairhaven.hamptoninn.com , or by calling 1-800-HAMPTON and referring to Group/Convention code CHXNSC. Should you need further information please do not hesitate to contact Tamara directly at 508-990-8500 or by email: tamara.c.wichelns@hilton.com

Best Western Dartmouth

727 State Road Dartmouth, MA 02747 – (508) 717-0424

Group Block: NIFA/SAFECON, Date: October 23 – 26, 2015. Nightly rate: $129.00/night plus taxes. Guests are required to call in and reserve rooms on their own and provide credit card details. The rooms will be released on October 2, 2015 (21 day prior to the event) and after that date they cannot be guaranteed.

AIRPORT INFORMATION

By Friday, October 9^th each team needs to provide to the New Bedford Regional Airport Administration & Region VII Chief Judge (Matt Elia) the following items:

-Tail numbers and make/model of ALL aircraft arriving for event (including planes that are not intended to be used for the events, just used for transporting people/supplies to the event)

-Names of contestants that will be participating in each event, for flying events, include the aircraft type

Teams: I know this type of information can be tough to provide in advance so I want to thank you for your help with this matter. The need for this information is driven by two things:

1. The airport needs a clear understanding of how many and which types of aircraft will be coming for the event to properly plan aircraft parking. It is likely, that aircraft parking will be assigned in a manner where each arriving tail number has a particular tie-down spot based on type of aircraft and if the aircraft will be used during the event. Also, teams must bring tie-down ropes for each aircraft coming for the event.

2. In order to have a conflict-free (or as close as possible) schedule, we will put in the extra effort to plan events around each team’s event participants. However, this takes time and while we are more than willing to do this, rather than providing a schedule and saying, “work with it…” We need your help in preparing for this.

 

Update 9/4/15 – The aircraft utilized for the Aircraft Preflight inspection event will be a late 1990’s model, Cessna 172 R Skyhawk. Similar to, if not the same as the one pictured below…

 

Update 6/17/15 – The New Bedford Airport Commission voted this evening to approve EWB as the host airport for the 2015 NIFA Region VII SAFECON! We are on track for a very exciting competition this fall!

We are ALWAYS looking for volunteer judges for Region VII events, if you are interested in volunteering as a competition judge, please email Matt: MTElia1B9 at gmail.com (I write it that was to prevent spam messages…)

EWB Traffic Pattern Limits:

Note: These are the traffic pattern limits, the normal traffic pattern should fall WELL within these limits…